design and build our own custom cab, patterned off the classic shape of the Tempest cab.

... looks like no Tempest cabs were harmed in this project

Logged

So a leper walks into a bar and as he gets his beer, a finger falls off. The bartender who is serving him turns and pukes all over the place. The leper, feeling bad, says, "Was it my finger falling off?" The bartender turns to him and says, "No, it's the guy dipping chips into your back."

Sorry for the confusion. TelcoLou is correct, this is a ground up scratch build. No genuine vintage arcade parts are being used and I would certainly NEVER destroy a Tempest Cab. My love for Tempest and the memories I have of playing that wonderful game for hours as a teenager and a young adult are what have prompted me to want to build this MAME cab and so I decided to honor that wonderful game by including the shape of the Tempest cab and the Tempest graphics in my design.

We have ordered most of our "parts" and are finishing the wood cut plan and build plans, so we should "break ground" within a week or two.

We would like to post actual plans here and on web site ( http://www.cowboyarcadeproject.com). What file formats are most useful? We can create anything from PDF to drafting program export files. Thoughts?

I was not happy with the way the sides were. I wanted to more closely match the outline of the original Tempest cab (scaled up) so I did that and then worked to make everything else fit. Turns out that I didn't have to move much. When I simply scaled the Tempest outline up to the depth (front to back) I needed to accomodate a larger monitor and bigger 2 person control panel all I had to do was cut off some of the top and bottom. You don't really notice either.

Anyway, check out the drawings and tell me what you think. I would really appreciate any feedback if you see something you think is a problem. We are new to this and it is easier to make changes on paper than to rework the wood once it is cut and put together!

We decided some ambient lighting would be cool. A little research brought us to www.ledunderbody.com. We selected the expandable orange 4 pc. interior kit and got 2 sets. Each set comes with 4 - 15" tubes with 30 LEDs in each tube. The reason we chose the expandable kit is that the individual light tubes plug into a receptacle instead of being hard wired into the controller, this is important later.

The lights came in and we couldn't wait to hook them to the TripLite12V power supply we got and try them out.

They are very bright and the controller allows you to choose from 7 different settings including a music setting complete with a sensitivity adjustment. The plan is to put the lights up both sides of the back of the cab and place the controllers where they can 'hear' the speakers so the ambient light pulses with the game sounds. The back of the cab will be slightly recessed, so the lights themselves will not be visible from the front or side, but the glow will. The cab back is in two sections, so there will be 4 light tubes (2 per side) mounted on each section of the back. The wires will run together and then plug into the receptacle mounted inside. This way, the back can be removed and the lights unplugged to get to the inside of the cab without unwiring the lights.

Got my Single Front plate Assembly (40-0023-00P) from Happ, along with a Imonex $.25 & .984″ Token Coin Mech (42-2034-00) and an Amber Reject Button Assembly (42-0517-07). Once they arrived, I replaced the standard yellow button with the amber one and upgraded the graphic in the button at the same time.

We think it looks great! If you are interested, I created the artwork for the button in Freehand (you could use any graphics program you want) and had it output to film at a local graphics place. A couple of cuts with a very sharp utility knife and it slid right into place. The film is completely opaque where it is black and really shows up well.

Due in large part to the nice folks here, we decided we needed a real pinball plunger. I was reading about Johns Retro Arcade pinball plunger setup and the subsequent ideas people on the forum had for modding it. I decided to use the micro-switch push button at the end of the plunger concept. First though, I had to determine how I wanted to mount the plunger in the cab.

The way the control panel of our cab is designed, there is not enough room in the front face plate for the standard plunger we bought. So, we dismantled it.

Then we cut off the back of a standard black push button leaving slightly less than 3/4″ of the threads past the front bezel. This is so that when the finished item is inserted in the 3/4″ material of the cab it will NOT stick all the way through. Next we machined a piece of black Delron to fit into the button bezel. The piece has an initial OD that matches the ID of the bezel opening. This is as deep as the distance to the button stops inside the bezel, where it then necks down to that size. Once it is past the cut-off button it is threaded and the the total length is equal to the length of the shaft housing in the original base. The piece has a hole with the same ID as the original plastic sleeve that was in the base also.

Then we made a nut out of hex brass that is about 2″ wide and as deep as the amount of the new piece sticking out of the cut-off button. The piece slides into the button bezel from the front and that assembly would go into the 1 1/8″ hole in the panel from the front. The nut goes on from the back and seats against the back of the panel, pulling the bezel tight and preventing the plunger from breaking the plastic piece if it is push sideways while pulled out. Finally the plunger with all the original springs is installed into the new housing.

We will make a frame from aluminum to mount a standard push button at the end of the plunger. At rest, the plunger will depress the button. We will wire the normally closed side of the micro-switch to the computer. When the plunger is at rest the plunger button will appear to be un-pushed. When you pull out the plunger it will depress the button and start the input to the game. While not directly connected, pulling the plunger back farther will take more time and produce a longer pull shot. Oh, Boy! This is going to be great!

Some people are using the Pinball Wizard (http://www.nanotechent.com/hsdiscount.php). They're taking it apart and throwing away most of it. It comes with an analog plunger and an accelerometer board (nudge) built in. The down side is they're $300 USD, but they have a sale every now and then. If you look at BBB's HyperPin cab (http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2944), you can see the mounting holes required. A possible problem in your case is that it might be too deep (long).

Oh, 300 bucks is steep, I agree. If I were building my own pin cab, that would have to be the first or last thing I bought. First - just to get expense out of the way, or Last - to avoid the buyers remorse. If I were dumping $1k+ into a 42" LCD setup, I guess I wouldn't mind the 300 big ones.

It's totally bragging rights though. How slick is it that you can pull the plunger all the way back and slowly return it, or those games where the skill shot requires you to "slap" the plunger with an open palm?

I'm not saying this is the way to go, but if you have the cash, it's a hell of a setup.

Wheres the accelerometers on Ultimarc? I've never heard of them and I just browsed there and didn't see them.

I have made a lot of very minor changes which most people would never notice but they all mattered to me. Of course, no one here on this board has ever done that. My current goal is to get my cab finished before Mission Control

We are hoping to get some time on the CNC router table this weekend, however, the potential for another winter storm may delay that yet again. Unfortunately, when I found out I had access to a CNC router I changed some of the design elements and moved into territory where it would be nearly impossible to do the sides manually. If someone wanted to not laminate the interior and was willing to just put in cleats to attach the horizontal pieces you could do the cab the way it is drawn.

Not for me though. I am sticking to my guns and building the cab I designed.

Well, the weather is not cooperating. We are caught in the ice storm that is currently crippling the midwest so it is unlikely we will get to the CNC Router this weekend. So.....

Moving forward with parts that can be built. I decided it would be cool to have a kick plate on the cab door so my kids would have something to put their feet against while they play (I probably should have kick plates all along the walls of my house!) So I started messing around with a design concept. I was thinking polished aluminum diamond plate with my design logo (www.t3design.com) cut out so the black laminate of the door shows through, and color anodized orange to match the rest of the cab, finished off with polished carriage bolts to hold it on. After some sketching I came up with this:

Got the diamond plate in and drew up the plans which Steve (one of the best Tool & Die machinists in the universe) converted to Esprit so he could program it to run on our Chevalier VMC (a CNC vertical machining center). I really enjoy working with Steve. He is an old school machinist who has successfully adapted to all the numerically controlled equipment. The thing is, you can program the machine to move the tool around, but you still have to know what tools and what speeds and feeds and how to clamp and hold the work piece and about 10 billion other things. Steve got the piece clamped up and dialed in the center:

We used the mill to spot and center drill the holes for both the carriage bolts and the EDM start points. Then we changed to a end mill and milled the outer edge to create the rounded corners:

It took longer to draw, write the program, and clamp and set-up on the work piece than it did to mill it:

Unfortunately, we ran out of time today. If the roads are not to bad in the morning and we actually all make it to work we will program the Wire EDM and cut-out the T3.

It is great to make things! I find it very satisfying to spend time working and then be able to hold the finished work in my hands. We made it to work today in spite of the very slick roads. I took my oldest son, Austin, with me. After checking that everything in the shop was working we went back to Tool &amp; Die to get started on the Kick Plate.

Steve had already spot faced the areas where the carriage bolts will go, so we set up and broached the holes.

Resulting in nice square holes for the carriage bolts to seat into:

Then we set-up the piece in the Wire EDM, here is Steve and Austin indicating the part in to make sure it is square:

The EDM uses high voltage delivered through a very tiny wire to actually vaporize the metal along the cutting path. Here is the wire threaded through the first start location:

Once the program was loaded and checked, we started cutting.

Here is the first section cut out:

And the second section removed:

And the piece (held by Steve) after all three cuts were complete;

A little aluminum wheel polish and we are ready to go to the platers:

Monday I will send it out to be hard color anodized orange. This will tone down the part a little, match the color scheme of the cab, and help keep it from getting scratched as easy.

Do you have something to address the sharp metal edges on that kickplate (eg, will it be behind plexi or something)?

Turned out really nice!

Logged

WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322, Oakview, CA 93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

Do you have something to address the sharp metal edges on that kickplate (eg, will it be behind plexi or something)?

Turned out really nice!

We used 280 grit wet sandpaper and smoothed out all the edges so they are still clean lines (not rounded) but they are not sharp at all. The whole thing will be flat against the door, so you would have to really work at catching something. If it ends up being an issue I will use the same program to cut the three pieces out of plain aluminum, anodize them black and fill the "T" in with them. I don't think it is going to be an issue though.

Well, since we are kind of on hold with cutting out the sides and the CP on the CNC Router, I decided to work on stuff I could be making. So today I made the back panels. I know this is the last thing that will actually go on the cab, but it was work that could be done and progress that could be made.

The monitor "shelf" is in the middle of the cab and had a fan mounted in it to move air up through the cab for cooling. This means we need slots in the bottom and top for air flow. No one will ever see this part of the cab. It will be up against the wall. However, I am OCD and was not content with simple slots, so....

I drew what I wanted and we converted it to code for our CNC mill.

Then we clamped up and indicated in the blank material (1/8" Work Tempered Hardboard):

Then loaded up the program and started cutting:

We are using an 1/8" carbide endmill so there will be a 1/16" radius on all inside corners.

Here is the first piece finished:

Then we clamped up and dialed in the second piece and ran the second program:

Continuing the cuts...

The endmill 'frayed' the edges a little but we took a sanding block and ran over everything and it cleaned up great:

So the completed cuts: TOP...

BOTTOM...

and the WHOLE THING:

I still need to clean up the edges some, drill the mounting holes, and the paint them black.

So what do you think given that this is something no one will even see this?

Another part that can be worked on....the speaker grill. Decided to go with a perforated aluminum for the speaker area on the cab. The perfed material is about 50% open, but since the whole speaker panel (27" x 6") will be perfed, the total open space is greater than a speaker cutout that is 100% open but just the size of the speaker. The speakers mount a little behind the speaker panel (about 5" from panel to center of speakers) so they will be able to 'see' the entire speaker panel area:

In order to meet up properly with the marquee retainer, the upper edge needed to be bent back to 70° and the lower edge to 90°. It turned out that the aluminum wanted to bend on the holes and so we had to work really hard (and scrap one piece) to get the 6" face dimension right and everything else straight. Here is the piece as it will be seen from the front of the cab:

And the profile of the bends:

The edges are very rough as each hole creates a sharp point if it is cut across. I found some edge trim that is black rubber and fits exactly over the edge. I ordered a sample and it is perfect:

Well, since we are kind of on hold with cutting out the sides and the CP on the CNC Router, I decided to work on stuff I could be making. So today I made the back panels. I know this is the last thing that will actually go on the cab, but it was work that could be done and progress that could be made.

.....

So what do you think given that this is something no one will even see this?

When you show off the machine and show someone everything properly, it is detail like that that adds the icing on the cake. Besides if you got access to a CNC machine why not use it all you can.

More progress on the back panels. Last night I laid out and drilled all the holes for the screws to attach the back panels to the cab and for the brackets to hold the led light bars for the ambient light effect. This morning I painted both sides of both panels satin black.

At this point I have already done way more than is reasonable for something that is going to be up against the wall and never even seen. But since I am OCD and NOT reasonable, I couldn't stop there. So...I painted the inside edge (1/8" thick material) of all the letters orange.

It is a little hard to see in the above shot, so here is a closeup:

And here is an angle where you can see more of the orange.

I took me about 2 hours to do each panel. I love how it looks! I will know it is back there whenever I am playing on my cab, so it was worth it to me. My wife is certain that I am insane.

Got the back lights mounted on the back panels tonight. I was waiting for the 4-40 Nylon screws and lock nuts to come in, so when they arrived in the mail today I knew what I was going to be doing this evening!

I had originally drilled the holes to mount the brackets based on what I thought would be most aesthetically pleasing (which would be funny if it weren't a little tragic since this is the BACK of the cab!) However, it had been a while since I had the lights out of the box and I had forgotten that the brackets coincided with particular locations on each light, namely, the ends. So once I had put all the brackets on and gotten the lights out of the box, none of them would fit. I know no one reading this has ever done something like this, so I am sure you cannot imagine how overjoyed I was.

Soooo, I re-marked and re-drilled all the mounting holes. Luckily, the wrong holes are under the lights once they are mounted, so all the people who are not going to see the back of the cab will also not see that I screwed up the mounting holes.

Here are the mounting brackets on the back:

And the way they look on the inside of the cab:

Here is what the four light bars look like mounted on one panel:

And here are the lights turned on:

But what is really cool is how it will look when the cab is against the wall:

Hopefully the materials for the cab come in tomorrow or Thursday and we can start cutting parts!

Look what the postman brought me this morning! Well, not the postman really, more like the guy who delivers our stuff from the platers. So I got to work this morning (early I might add) to find this sitting on my desk:

That is going to look so sweet on the front of the cab! The anodizing toned down the shine a little and the orange is nearly a perfect shade. Are we having fun yet? Yes we are!

i am sure you are putting a lot of thought and time into your project and i am sure you will have real nice cab at the end,well it will be unique thats for sure,well everyones cabs end up being unique.

do you not think you might be going over the top?with all the lights and stuff you sure wont miss it when its all turned on!

is this just a working project ie:a project you can use and enjoy or is it something you just wanted to challenge yourself on and have it as a showpiece kinda thing?

you certainly know your workshopping and use of machines and have certainly used them to good use although be it a little over the top (but,thats just my opinion) as you went to trouble of routing out names and such on the rear panels,i know you need air for cooling,i mean with all the lights you will be using you sure will need it.

I am very surely going over the top. Unlike a lot of folks on this board, this is likely to be my only build. Really, I'm actually very surprised the wife let me do this once, no way it will happen a second time. I think when the whole thing is complete it will work as a whole piece. The backlighting is really the flashiest thing I am doing and it can be turned on or off.

is this just a working project ie:a project you can use and enjoy or is it something you just wanted to challenge yourself on and have it as a showpiece kinda thing?

Both. I have 6 kids, ages 15 down to 5. We are gonna play on this thing! I actually made a lot of decisions in the design based on durability and ease of keeping things clean. The cab will end up in my game room (not an arcade, just the rec room for the house) and the motif in there is Oklahoma State Cowboys (my alma mater). Two of the walls are orange. We have signed footballs, basketballs, game jerseys, memorabilia, etc. I even have an old Glasco Slider that I had redone and hand painted:

you certainly know your workshopping and use of machines and have certainly used them to good use although be it a little over the top (but,thats just my opinion) as you went to trouble of routing out names and such on the rear panels,i know you need air for cooling,i mean with all the lights you will be using you sure will need it.

Yep. Guilty as charged. I told you guys that the "COWBOY ARCADE" and COWBOYS 4EVER" routed in the back as cooling vents were a complete OCD waste of time. But I like them and I will know they are back there, and I had fun designing and making the panels, so it works for me. I'm sure Pixelhugger (Mission Control) spent more time planing his build (not much, but more), but I plan to finish mine first!

Thanks for the response. Keep checking on me and let me know what you like and what you think is insane

P.S. I have been following your build. Very nice work and under less than ideal conditions. Good job.

I just received my printed side art from Scott Prior at MameMarquees. I could not be happier! As you can see for yourself:

The object between the two panels is a yard stick. They are glorious! The black is glossy jet black. The orange neon really seems to be glowing! Wow!

Scott was easy to work with (I knew this as I already ordered and received my marquee and cpo from him) and the turn around was great. I messed up my order and actually ordered 2 sets of sideart instead of ordering two sides. Scott realized that I was not likely to actually need two sets, so he contacted me to make sure and then issued a refund for the second set.

I have three different LEDs: Button Blaster (white) from Groovy Game Gear, Orange 15° (RL5-O5015) Beam from SuperBrightLEDs.com, and Orange 30° Beam (RL5-O4030) also from SuperBrightLEDs.com.

I also have the diffuser discs from Groovy Game Gear.

So, I took a piece of black melamine shelving and cut out the button holes according to my CP design. I then installed 6 buttons: 3 sets for the three LED types with and without the diffusers. Here is what they look like:

So, the question is....which one looks the best?

I do not like the white LED at all. As I suspected, it washes out the orange buttons and makes them look almost yellow.

I love the way the orange LEDs make the buttons look. I tried "standing" over the mock CP in approximately the position I would play and I think the buttons with NO diffuser shine too much light up into your eyes. So I like the diffusers. The pictures make the button centers look washed out. In person they are very orange.

Between the 15° and the 30° Beam, I like the wider beam as it seems to light up the whole button better.